2017 Bellya Summer In Review: The Amazing Final Food Drive Count!

The Bellevue community donated an incredible 2,526 items to our food drive for the local pantry! 

Pantries especially need resources during the summer months and so the library collected nonperishable food items and hygiene products throughout June and July to bolster their supplies.

To encourage participation, we tied the food drive into our very relevant Summer Library Program theme: Build A Better World! Adults, teens, and kids could all earn incentives by bringing canned or boxed goods to our table station, where a running count display was kept (50 items = another heart grocery bag on the chart). We provided a food drive handout, so you could take a shopping list of the pantry's most needed items to the store!

Shopping list: what the pantry needed most!

Kids Cruisin' Kitchen also came to further our anti-hunger efforts! Sponsored by the Omaha Salvation Army, Food Bank for the Heartland, and Hunger Free Heartland, this program delivers hot, nutritious meals free of charge. People 19 years of age or younger and their families were eligible to visit the food truck starting late May. And it's still ongoing now, 12:00-12:45 PM, through Wednesday, August 9th! 🍲

Thank you for helping us exceed our goal of 2500 items by July 22nd! ❤

You can continue donating to the Bellevue Pantry at 1908 Hancock Street. Call them at 402-292-2961 to check their service hours and check their web site for the most current list of "Needed Now" items.

We collected 741 items in just the first week!

posted on 8/01/2017 05:52:00 PM

anti-hunger build a better world community food drive kids cruisin kitchen summer library program

2017 Bellya Summer In Review: Craftzilla - DIY Floam Slime!

Earlier this July, teens took to our large event room to science up some floam slime! It can be a tricky process: too much or too little of an element can result in a tough dough or a sticky mess.

But with careful instructions--and perhaps a little intuitive sense (*gasp* Is that...unscientific?)  (No. 😉)--you can repeat the perils and pleasures of slimemaking.

🖸🖸 📅 Eyeball future Bellya calendars for ventures into fluffy slime and other variants!

For now, peek into the floam slime laboratory (explosion included): 

A stretchy success!

posted on 7/29/2017 02:00:00 PM

Bellya build a better world craftzilla diy floam slime slime summer library program young adult

Library Food Drive for the community!

Today the library kicks off a food drive for the Bellevue Pantry! Donations are especially needed during the summer months and so we are collecting nonperishable food items and hygiene products to help our community. Any such items will be appreciated, but please follow the link for a shopping list of most needed items.

★ Update: please add peanut butter, rice, and boxed dinners to your shopping lists.

The library is pleased to offer special incentives to all food drive participants, to tie into our current "Build A Better World" Summer Library Programs. Bring your donations to our front desk!

Please note that incentives may only be redeemed once daily.

★ Adults: Every 5 items = an entry to win 1 of 5 $10 library bookstore gift certificates!

★ Young Adults (7th-12th grade, 2017 high school grads):
1-4 items = a Summer Library Program Weekly and Grand Prize entry slip!
5+ items = SLP Weekly and Grand Prize entry slips AND a Prize Wheel spin (win a variety of goodies, including pool passes and free books)!

There are presently 5 Weekly Prize and 12 Grand Prize packages to be won.

★ Kids (Birth-6th grade): 5+ items = a Grand Prize entry slip!

posted on 6/19/2017 05:11:00 PM

Bellya build a better world food drive summer library program